ESD

Electro Static Discharge – acronym ESD – is the term for the static discharge of a body on account of a potential differential to its surrounding. This discharge can damage or destroy IC’s and other sensitive components. To avoid this, components need to be stored in appropriate ESD-safe (isolating and conducting) packaging material. Persons, which need to handle these components, have to be provided with personal protective equipment, as has to be the workplace. Both personnel as well as the workplace need to be high-resistivity grounded (resistivity values in the range of 105 to 1011 ohm-meters).